


PRVL Volume 3

by AuthorAlex97 (Sweetie_Curfy)



Series: PRVL [3]
Category: RWBY, Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Autistic Logic | Logan Sanders, Canon-Typical Violence, Dragon Faunus!Roman, Fish Faunus!Patton, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:00:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24228478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetie_Curfy/pseuds/AuthorAlex97
Summary: Four schools. Thirty-two teams. One hundred twenty-eight students. One winner.It's the weekend that everyone has been training for, but not everything is as ready as it seems. Between Virgil's ever-growing disrupting anxiety, Patton's fear of his parents, Roman's brother-despised relationship, and Logan's mysterious threat, chances are that something is bound to go horribly wrong. But with their friends and families surrounding them, Team PRVL is confident that they're going to make the most of the three biggest days ahead of them.Welcome to the Vytal Festival Tournament!
Series: PRVL [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/931161
Comments: 17
Kudos: 52





	1. Round One

**Author's Note:**

> I TOLD Y'ALL I'M NOT GIVING UP!!!!!
> 
> Oh, man, does it feel good to be uploading to this series again!!! Thank you all so much for your patience during this long wait. It really does mean a lot to see you folks sticking around. And, to those of you just joining in: welcome!!!
> 
> I'm not going to promise there are going to be weekly updates again like there were with Volume 1, but what I *can* promise you, and you hopefully will trust me on this, is that I am not giving up!!! PRVL is my biggest passion project, and now that I'm out of school and able to dedicate more time to this, I most certainly will be!!! Chapter 2 is almost done, so hopefully it won't take another ten months to get it posted dlksjfjsdkl
> 
> And!! Be on the lookout throughout the fic for links-- I plan on composing a LOT more music for this from this point on. Maybe even make some full albums for each Volume? We'll see.
> 
> Well, I don't want to keep you folks waiting too much longer. Without further ado... WELCOME TO THE VYTAL FESTIVAL TOURNAMENT!!!

Virgil was _certain_ he’d never felt his heart beat any faster in his life than in this moment. It was practically vibrating out of his ribcage. He couldn’t believe the others didn’t hear it. It was sending his head in a spin, his hands into a sweat, his jaw into a clench so tight he swore it could break through his own armor.

Not that he thought it was without reason, of course.

Despite the locker room being clear of any movement outside of PRVL putting on their armor, the chaos of the crowd outside refused to be silenced. It mixed sweetly with the heavy excitement radiating off of the other three, creating a buzz in the air that only seemed to make his pulse race even faster. From the corner of his eye, he could see Roman’s hands shaking, Logan’s stiffer-than-normal posture, Patton shifting his weight back and forth between his feet.

Each of them had an excited grin on their face. Virgil couldn’t find himself doing the same, but he couldn’t blame them.

After all, it was the day they’d been training for for so long.

The Vytal Festival Tournament.

Slamming his locker shut, Patton whirled around and held his fists to his chest. “ _Guys,_ it’s almost time!”

“We’re right here,” Logan responded, little venom in his voice. “You don’t need to yell.”

“I think there’s _plenty_ of reason to yell!” Roman exclaimed. He lifted himself off the ground and twirled. “We have the _first fight_ of the whole tournament! Have you any idea how much of an extravagant privilege that is?!”

“Privilege isn’t the word I’d use…,” Virgil breathed.

Logan crossed his arms. “While I do agree with you that this is an excellent opportunity, we can’t let it figuratively cloud our minds so much that we forget how to fight,” he stated. “We must remember to keep our guard up, regardless of whomever we’re against, and remember our training.”

“Oh, c’mon, Lo! This is gonna be fun!” Patton said. “We get to meet new people, make new friends—”

“—And represent Beacon as skilled, promising Huntsmen to the rest of the world,” Logan interrupted. “We cannot forget that.”

A shiver ran down Virgil’s spine.

“Plus, with you refusing to use your Semblance, despite any and all reasoning, we need to be extra careful about our tactics,” Logan finished.

Patton frowned. “Lo, I’ve told you, my parents are going to be watching. They’ll be furious if they see _that_.”

“I have to agree with the Grimm Sleeper, here, Pat,” Roman said. “What does it matter if they see when you won’t be speaking to them again?”

“I…”

The speakers screeched to life. Virgil felt his stomach leap to his throat.

_“Ladies, Gentlemen, and everyone in between! Welcome to the 40 th Annual Vytal Festival Tournament!”_

The crowd erupted into cheers above them, amplified by the close, metal walls. Patton threw his hands over his ears while Roman let out a squeal.

“This is _it!”_

_“We’re broadcasting to you live from Amity Colosseum, floating high above a beautiful day in the Kingdom of Vale! And boy, do we have a crowd today!”_

_“Yes, Peter, I’d say this is one of the best crowds we’ve had in years! It seems almost every seat is filled with someone on the edge of their… well… seat!”_

_“Oho, and why keep them waiting? Please welcome our first two teams of the tournament!”_

Patton gasped and started to run for the door. “Come on, we better get out there!”

Roman and Logan were hot on his heels; Virgil took a second to take a shaky breath before following suit.

_“Hailing from the Kingdom of our last Vytal Festival Champion, Shade Academy’s Team JTTT is here to uphold their title!”_

“We got this guys,” Patton stated.

_“And, representing our very own Beacon Academy, we have our promising Team PRVL to kick things off!”_

The door slid open.

Screaming and bright, stadium lights nearly knocked the four off of their feet, but they managed to press forward towards the stage, however slow their pace. It was hard to _not_ stare at their surroundings.

Dr. Oobleck hadn’t been kidding when he’d announced how packed the crowd was. Thousands of people were staring at them, waving, cheering, anything imaginable. From where they stood, the faces beyond the first few rows of the first level were far too small to distinguish, but was it _loud._

Roman was quick to soak up the attention, twirling and sending kisses and waving right back. Virgil couldn’t shake the tremor in his hands.

By the time they made it to the stage, Team JTTT was lined up, weapons at the ready. PRVL scrambled to do the same.

With a wave, Patton grinned at the opposing team. “Hi! I’m Patton, and this is Roman, Logan, Virgil! It’s nice to meet you!”

“Pat!” Roman hissed. “You’re not supposed to befriend them until _after_ the match! We’re enemies right now!”

Across the way, one of the members burst into a hearty, full laugh. He nearly dropped the camera in his hand. “Nah, c’mon! We can be friends now! It’ll be a friendly competition!”

“Of course _you’d_ go for that,” the person next to them retorted, a smirk on their face.

“Did you expect anything else?” said the member furthest left.

“I sure hope not!” the first guy laughed. He beamed at PRVL and waved. “My name’s Thomas!”

The person next to Thomas scoffed before looking back at them. “Sorry, he’s like a big dog. I’m Joan.”

“Terrence,” said the guy on the left. He waved with two fingers before adjusting the baseball bat on his shoulder.

The person on the far right peered over their shoulder. “I’m Talyn.”

“It’s nice to meet you all!” Patton exclaimed.

“Just don’t expect us to go easy on you,” Roman shot.

Thomas made eye contact and gave a confident grin. “Trust us,” he said. “We won’t.”

 _“The rules of the tournament are simple,_ ” Professor Port announced. _“As per tradition, we will once again be breaking the competitions into three categories: Teams, Doubles and Singles.”_

_“The winners of the Team battles will choose two members of their team to progress to the Doubles, and whichever team wins that chooses one member to progress to the Singles!”_

_“From that point, the remaining combatants will fight their way through the final bracket in hopes of achieving victory for their kingdom!”_

_“Yes, and it is crucial to note that the only attribute being tested is skill!”_ Dr. Oobleck shouted. _“Age and school year are completely irrelevant in this tournament!”_

“Thank the gods for that,” Joan muttered.

Screens popped up around the stage, each with a rainbow of icons rapidly scrolling around them. Patton’s grin faltered as his eyes fell on them.

“What is _that?_ ”

Terrence blinked. “Have you never seen a tournament before?”

“Uh…”

“Don’t judge him. You know how hard it can be to watch these things,” Talyn pointed out. “Especially in Vacuo.”

“I grew up in Atlas! How am I supposed to know that?!”

The screens slowed to a stop. Behind Team JTTT showed a silhouette of a sun high above jutted structures. Patton turned in time to see silhouettes of geysers appear on their screens.

The ground rumbled.

Gasping, Patton stumbled back, both Roman and Logan grabbing an arm to keep him from falling to the ground. He saw Virgil drop to a crouch out of the corner of his eye; somehow, Team JTTT was hardly phased.

Aside from the middle panel they stood on, the floor began to recede into itself. Patton watched in awe as two environments rose out of the ground: one covered in high mountains of sand, and the other full of rocky geysers that blasted boiling water as soon as the floor settled.

When the stage stopped shaking, Roman shot him a grin. _“That’s_ what those mean.”

_“Students, are you ready?! The Vytal Festival Tournament is about to begin!”_

The teams were quick to get into their fighting stances before Patton and Joan offered curt nods.

_“In three…”_

Roman’s wings fluttered.

_“Two…”_

Joan smirked.

_“One…”_

Patton smiled back.

_“[BEGIN!”](https://youtu.be/W80detxM6n4)_

Patton reeled back and hurled his shield as hard as he could.

It soared across the gap between the two teams until it came just in front of Thomas’s face, who was quick to flip back just out of its reach. He eased into a backhand spring before lifting his camera and snapping a photo.

A flash of light blinded PRVL, and they threw up their hands to cover their faces. As soon as Virgil blinked his vision back, Talyn was flying towards him, sword extended; it split in the middle and spread apart, and red bubbles pelted him in the face, exploding into fire. He stumbled back, but had the quick intuition to throw his pole up just before they slammed their sword into it.

There was a blast of air next to them as Terrence leapt into the air. His baseball bat snapped into a scooter, which he was quick to put under himself before landing. He sped into the geyser field before anyone could react.

Logan launched his book at Joan, prepared to catch them while they weren’t paying attention, but they threw up their gloved hand and snatched it out of the air. A yelp escaped him when they gripped it tight and yanked it towards them, sending him tumbling in their direction.

Thomas beamed at the sight until a shadow loomed high above him, and he glanced up just in time to see Roman diving towards him, sword extended; he was quick to snap his camera into a tripod and hold it above his head. As they collided, a blast of air burst around them, sending dust and gravel flying everywhere.

Patton’s shield wedged itself into a sand dune far behind the others, and he sprinted to get to it before anyone else could. The wind toppled him over; he somersaulted to keep his momentum, only stumbling a bit before steadying on his feet. As soon as he was close enough, he yanked it out of the sand and snapped it back onto his gauntlet, whirling around to see who he could fight.

In the distance, a small figure wove through the geysers. Patton lifted his shield and fired.

_“What an explosive start to this year’s tournament!”_

Terrence kicked onto the flat, middle ground of the stage and sped towards him, dodging the bullets with ease. The closer he got, the more Patton’s heart pounded, and the harder he focused on firing bullets.

He leapt into the air and swiped the scooter out from under his feet; it transformed back into a bat as he held it above his head. Patton threw his shield up just in time. The resounding _CLANG!_ Caused him to throw his hands over his ears, and Terrence took the opportunity to smash the bat into his side and knock him to the ground.

As soon as Logan was close enough, Joan thrust their bare fist at his face; he was quick to duck back and grab their wrist, pulling it over his shoulder to smash the heel of his hand into their jaw. They snatched his hand and spun until he was behind them. They launched him into the air, over their shoulders, but Logan ripped himself away and landed steadily on his feet. He threw up his arm just as they threw a punch, blocking it and repeating the action a few times.

Joan took a step back, pulling their right arm with the motion. The glove began to crackle with electricity. Logan shielded his eyes from the flashing lights, only for it to collide with his chest a second later; the jolt sent him flying through the air, and it took every muscle in his body to get him to slide to a stop on his feet, one hand on the ground for balance.

He shot a glare. They grinned back.

Gritting his teeth, Logan gripped his book and charged forward.

Talyn flipped over Sangria Salvia and landed neatly on their feet, switching their sword back into a bubble wand and shooting more bubbles; Virgil was quick to respond this time and spun his pole to block them. As soon as the fire was gone, he gripped it with both hands and swung. They matched his motion and blocked the attack.

The two hit, blocked, hit, blocked, back and forth until Virgil shoved his weapon between Talyn’s arms. He yanked it back towards him and knocked their sword out of their hands, sending it flying through the air and onto the ground far out of their reach. They watched it go before looking back at his beaming face.

Virgil couldn’t help but feel his anxiety dissipate just a little. _We might actually be able to do this!_

Talyn glared and held out their hands on either side. Claws shot out from underneath their nails.

His face dropped.

Roman let out a battle cry as he slammed his sword into Thomas’s tripod. The steel clashed back and forth until he leapt into the air and twirled above his opponent, landing behind him and kicking sand into the air. He swung, but Thomas was quick to snap the back of his camera open; film ribbons shot out and wrapped around the blade, and he ripped it right out of his hands and sent it flying. Roman lurched for it, but Thomas pointed an open palm at the ground and lifted his hand, and a giant column of sand rose up and knocked him away.

As quickly as he could, Roman twisted to right himself, coughing and spluttering to get the grains out of his mouth. He growled and dove towards his sword, but another blast slammed into his stomach; by the time the third was hurdling towards him, Roman was quick to spread his wings and use the wind to soar around it.

Seeing his opportunity, Terrence switched his weapon back into scooter mode and drifted around where Patton was pushing himself off of the floor. He shot him a grin and a wink.

“Catch me if you can!”

With that, he shot back towards the geysers. Patton beamed and jumped to his feet with a laugh, sprinting after him.

“You bet I will!”

As he ran onto the rocky, uneven ground, he dodged and jumped over the cracks and geysers that Terrence seemed to be skipping over with ease. He couldn’t figure out how, or how he was going to catch up to him in the first place, but… He couldn’t find himself caring. Despite the thousands of people watching in the stadium, and millions around the world, and all of them putting all their expectations of Beacon on PRVL, he didn’t have any care over which team won. This was _fun._ His heart was full of sunshine and joy over meeting new friends and getting to spar with them like this.

A little _too_ full of joy.

Energy started to flow down to his feet, and Patton skidded to a stop just in front of a geyser, heart leaping into his throat. He looked down in time to see little patches of grass forming where his footsteps had landed.

Ice seeped into his veins.

Millions of people included his parents.

_Semblance._

The ground rumbled in front of him, and he stumbled back just in time for the geyser to blast boiling water into the sky.

A green light formed around it, and the stream twisted and turned around itself. He blinked and glanced to the side to see Terrence holding his hands out in front of him, eyes shining a bright green.

“Oh!” Patton yelled. “Your semblance is—!”

_Boosh!_

The water slammed him directly in the gut, and he was sent flying high into the air, tumbling and twirling at almost the height of the second level of seating in the colosseum. Briefly, he caught a glimpse at the whole field from a birds’ eye view, watching as Virgil and Talyn parried, Joan and Logan battled hand to hand, and Roman bobbed and weaved through the sand Thomas was blasting into the air.

Roman caught him out of the corner of his eye, and he froze. Quickly, he calculated where it was Patton was going to land, and—

“Patton!”

He shot out of Thomas’s sand trap as fast as he could and dove for his leader, snatching him in his arms just before he hit the floor just outside of the battlefield. They each let out an _oof_ , but recovered without a second to spare.

 _“What a save performed by Roman Reptilia!”_ Professor Port exclaimed. _“Team PRVL’s lucky to have someone so quick-thinking on their side!”_

Patton beamed up at him as he flew them back towards the battlefield. “Thanks, Ro!”

“Of course, Padre! Can’t have our leader losing from something as silly as falling out of bounds!” he replied. “Just be careful, alright?”

“You know I will, kiddo!”

Before Roman could say anything else, a blast of sand slammed into his side, and he was sent tumbling through the air; Patton fell towards the main stage, but, prepared this time, he tucked and rolled before sprinting back towards the geysers. A boulder came flying at him, covered in green light, and he was quick to throw his shield up to block it as he continued on his path.

Roman landed in the sand with a _poof_ , skidding and sending sand down the inside of his shirt. It scratched and burned at every inch of his skin; as he pushed himself into a sitting position, he cast a quick glance to the big screens at the very top of the colosseum.

He found his name on the left side, second person down, and checked his aura levels.

_27/100_

He had a feeling.

A flash of light blinded him, but he leapt to his feet, reaching for his sword that was still stuck in the sand on the other side of the field. He cracked his eyes open just in time to see the tripod heading straight for his face; all he could do was throw his arms up to take the attack.

Roman formed a shield of light, but it shattered within the next blow. With a battle cry, Thomas jumped and held his tripod high above his head.

_Thwack!_

_“Oh, and there’s our first knock out of the tournament!”_

Logan gasped and cast a glance over his shoulder in time to see Roman staring up at the big screens, brow furrowed and mouth set in a slacked, deep frown. Next to him, Thomas was cheering and throwing his hands in the air, waving at the crowd. If he’d been facing him, Logan figured he would have seen a huge grin on his face.

He threw up an arm to block Joan’s punch, and, with his other, gripped his weapon’s strap tight, flinging the book as hard as he could at Thomas. It hit him square on the back and knocked him out of sight.

_“And our second, just a second later!”_

_“It seems that PRVL and JTTT are evenly matched against each other! There’s no telling who will win this fight!”_

_“Ah, but whoever it is will clearly be worthy of going on to the next round!”_

Virgil swallowed thickly as he blocked another scratch from Talyn’s claws. “That’s debatable,” he whispered to himself.

“Not so confident now, are you?” they snarked, shooting a smirk.

Glaring, he shoved them back as hard as he could, and they fell to the ground; without missing a beat, they did a backwards somersault, snatching their sword off the ground and firing bubbles at him again.

Virgil snapped his pole into its shotgun form and shot at each of the bubbles, letting them explode in the air instead of in his face. He crept forward as quickly as he could at the same time. Talyn inched back on their own with each step he took.

Finally, he ducked, snapped his weapon back into a pole, and swiped it under their feet. They hit the ground with a _thud,_ and the buzzer sounded through the arena.

The crowd cheered. Distantly, Virgil heard Dr. Oobleck and Professor Port announcing the win.

He should have been happy, or at the very least, on his way to helping his teammates. But he couldn’t.

His eyes were glued to the people and cameras surrounding them.

Patton grit his teeth as his and Terrence’s weapons collided. With a grunt, he shoved him away, but Terrence kicked him in the chest and knocked him to the ground. He gasped pushed himself up, only to pause at the sight of an unsettlingly still figure.

“Virgil?” he muttered.

He glanced up at the screen to check his Aura level. 56/100.

Virgil realized with a start that he couldn’t breathe. His chest squeezed to the point where it felt like each breath was restricting his lungs even further, and his heart was _feeling_ it. Pain started to run down his left arm as he broke into a cold sweat.

Something was _wrong._ Something was horribly, horribly wrong, and he was going to die, right here, in front of all these people, on live TV.

His legs trembled under his own weight, even though he felt like he was going to float away. All of these people were going to watch him die, and—and they were going to be traumatized. And all that panic and trauma was going to attract Grimm, maybe so many that the Atlas Military couldn’t hold them back, and everyone was going to die and _it would be all his fault because he couldn’t handle a single, stupid fight in front of some people—_

Virgil’s knees buckled.

Patton’s heart leapt to his throat. “Virgil!”

_“What’s this? It seems Mr. Vengier is exhausted from the fight!”_

He snapped his gaze towards Logan and Joan, just in time to see Joan staring at Virgil with a calculating look in their eye. They strategically hit Logan in the gut with a charged punch, and then they were running.

Patton glowered.

He whirled around and slammed his shield into Terrence’s shins just as he was raising his bat above his head. As he toppled forward, Patton leapt to his feet and smashed his fist into his chest as hard as he could.

A streak of flames followed Terrence as he flew out of bounds. Patton hardly registered the buzzer, as he was already sprinting as fast as he could.

Joan leapt into the air, their glove crackling with electricity and aiming right for Virgil.

Patton felt the ground rise under him with each step he took. Fire engulfed his fists.

They made eye contact.

Joan’s face fell.

With a scream, Patton slammed his fist into them, and they were sent flying through the air; when they hit the ground, they smashed through a rock formation in the sand before skidding off of the stage and slamming into the far wall.

_“AND THAT’S THE MATCH!”_

_“TEAM PRVL OF BEACON WINS!”_

Patton landed back on the ground and stumbled, cloak landing over the top of his head and blocking his vision. He yelped and scrambled to get it off; by the time he could see and whirl around, Talyn was already knelt next to Virgil, gripping his arm tightly.

“Virgil, right? Try to focus on me,” they encouraged. “Can you hear me?”

Logan dashed up behind them. “What’s going on?”

“Is he okay?!” Patton asked.

They shot them a quick glance, but kept their focus on Virgil. “He’s having a panic attack,” they stated. “I’ve got this. Virgil, if you can hear me, I need you to breathe in through your nose for four seconds…”

A hand rested on Patton’s shoulder; he turned to see Thomas giving him a gentle look. “Has he ever had one of these before?”

“Not to my knowledge,” Logan replied.

“Mine, either.”

Thomas nodded, and then he offered them a smile. “He’ll be okay. Don’t worry. If anyone knows how to help, it’s Talyn.”

“We need to get off the field soon, though,” Talyn pointed out. “Help me out?”

“You got it.”

Carefully, Thomas and Talyn lifted the trembling Virgil to his feet; when his knees buckled again, his weight caused Talyn to drop as well, and the other three scrambled to grab them both before they could fall. Patton held Talyn steady while Logan helped Thomas with Virgil.

“Aura depleted?” Thomas asked.

With a groan, Talyn could only nod. They leaned almost their full weight against Patton, eyes squeezing shut. Weakly, they pointed at Virgil and frowned.

“Help him do my breathing exercises.”

Thomas nodded and started to softly speak to Virgil, leading them carefully towards the locker room. Patton was about to do the same, but he stopped when he heard footsteps running up behind them.

“Talyn!”

They immediately turned and drooped into Joan’s arms the second they were within reach. Joan let out a breath, and then they lifted them bridal style, pressing their head carefully into the crook of their neck.

“I think you pushed yourself just a little too far today,” they muttered.

Talyn let out a moan, shaking their head. “’M fine.”

“Um…”

The two looked at Patton as he glanced back and forth between them and the locker room. He shifted on his feet, gripping tight to his cape.

“Are— Are you okay?” he asked.

Talyn hummed, dropping their head back onto Joan’s shoulder. “I have EDS,” they explained. “My Aura lets me fight without it hurting too bad, but once it’s gone, it hits full force.”

“We should probably go take a nap or something,” Joan said.

“No— No, I want to make sure Virgil’s alright.”

They blinked.

“What do you mean?” they asked. “Did something happen?”

Talyn raised an eyebrow at them. “Uh, yeah? He started having a panic attack in the middle of our match!”

Horror spread across Joan’s face, and they looked at Patton. “Wait, so— _that’s_ why he collapsed?! Shit, I had no idea—”

They bolted off towards the locker room, holding Talyn tight in their arms; Patton let out a breath and followed.

* * *

Virgil lowered the water bottle from his lips, making sure he kept his eyes shut to avoid any eye contact. “Thank you,” he wheezed.

“Are you feeling any better?” Thomas asked.

He let his head drop and gave a non-committal shrug. “’M not dying, so…”

“Not that you ever were in the first place,” Logan stated.

There was a soft _thwack!_ , followed by a yelp.

“Not now,” Roman hissed.

“It was intended as a reassurance!”

A weak laugh escaped his lips, and he cracked his eyes open to look around the locker room. From where he sat on the bench, he could just barely see Logan and Roman glaring at each other off to the side. Terrence was watching them with a raised eyebrow, and Thomas was next to him, still focused on Virgil. Next to them, Joan leaned against the lockers, holding a steady hand on Talyn’s shoulders, who was sitting cross-legged and exhausted right in front of him.

By process of elimination, that left Patton as the weight pressing against him. Not that he’d ever had any doubts on that.

“Was that your first panic attack?” Talyn asked.

Swallowing thickly, Virgil lowered his head again. “I-I guess.”

“They’re pretty terrifying the first time. I know,” they said. “But you learn how to handle them.”

_First time?_

“I’m really, so sorry for attacking you like that,” Joan said. “I really had no idea that was happening.”

“S’fine,” Virgil groaned. “Didn’t even notice you, honestly.”

“And you have Patton to thank for that. That final blow was _awesome_ ,” Terrence pointed out.

The grip on his shoulder tightened a bit, and then Patton let out a nervous laugh. “Uh… Thanks.”

“No, he’s right! I didn’t see that coming at all!” Joan added. “Was that your Semblance? How many years have you been—”

Virgil quietly sucked in a breath too big for his lungs to handle at the moment and threw himself into a coughing fit. Talyn leaned forward to push the water towards his lips; he took a swig and tried to ignore his burning lungs.

“You okay?” they asked.

He swallowed and slowly nodded. “Thanks.”

Talyn nodded back before pointing to his pocket with a shaking hand. “Let me give you my scroll number,” they said.

“What for?” Virgil replied. Regardless, he pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to them.

“If you’re ever having a panic attack, or just want to talk, you can always call me. I’ll help as much as I can.” They typed in their number and moved to hand it back, but Thomas stepped forward and held out his hand before Virgil could take it back.

“Let me put mine in too,” he ordered, “Just in case Talyn can’t pick up.”

“Oh, I want your numbers, too!” Patton exclaimed.

“So do I!” Roman added.

Joan pulled out their scroll. “Why don’t we all just exchange numbers with each other? Maybe we can hang out later during the festival.”

Patton grinned. “Would that be okay?!”

“Of course! You guys are cool,” Terrence said, “Even if you _did_ beat us up and knock us out of the tournament.”

After they all exchanged and returned scrolls, Joan helped Talyn to their feet and looked at PRVL. “Do you guys want to get something to eat? I hear there’s some _great_ ramen down on the fairgrounds.”

“As much fun as that sounds, I’m afraid we already have plans,” Logan stated.

Patton frowned. “We do?”

“Yes. Team CTLN asked us to watch some of the matches with them, remember?”

Waggling his eyebrows, Roman leaned in. “Oh, of course _you’d_ remember.”

“Maybe some other time, then,” Thomas said. “We’ve got three days before the festival ends, so there’s plenty of time to plan. Let’s meet up again soon!”

“And don’t forget to call if you need anything,” Talyn added.

The two teams headed out of the locker room, each waving goodbye as they headed in different directions down the hall. Roman was quick to hop into the air and hover in front of Logan as they moved.

“So, skipping out on new friends to spend time with Thamir, hmm?” he said.

Logan rolled his eyes. “Do not assume it’s for any hidden reasoning. I simply wish to support them during the tournament,” he replied. “The members of Team CTLN have seemed to expressed remorse that they were unable to qualify to compete, and I’m certain that being with friends will help their emotional states.”

“Uh huh, sure.”

Taking a shaky breath, Virgil slowed to a stop and glued his eyes to the ground. “Guys? Uh… I-I think I’m just… gonna go lie down for a bit,” he softly admitted. “I’m kinda tired after all… y’know. That.”

The others stopped and looked at him; they cast a quick glance at each other, and then Patton stepped forward and put a hand on his arm. “Do you want us to come with you?”

Virgil shrugged, swallowing thickly. “I don’t want to keep you guys from CTLN, or from watching the tournament.”

“I’m sure they’d understand,” Logan replied.

Roman nodded. “And we could always watch on our scrolls.”

Offering a gentle smile, Patton tipped his head to the side. “I don’t really want to be in the colosseum, anyway, if I’m honest,” he said. “It’s a bit too loud for me in there.”

“And crowded,” Logan added.

Virgil chewed on his lip, looking between the three. “Are you sure?”

Shooting forward, Roman threw an arm around his shoulders. “We are _certain_ , you nervous little Nevermore!” he exclaimed. “Now, let’s head back to the airships before this match ends! Best time to beat the crowd!”

A weak smile formed on Virgil’s face. “Okay.”

The group turned and began to head the other direction, towards the light at the end of the hall and the rumbling of the airships.

(<https://youtu.be/-0E3bheVYRQ>)


	2. New Challengers...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On their way back to their dorm, Team PRVL runs into a couple of interesting characters that teach them a little more about one of their teammates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I'm not gonna update every week" I said, before I proceeded to scramble to finish this chapter today so it could go up one week after the first chapter

Stepping off of the airship, Virgil wrapped his arms around himself. “You guys _really_ don’t have to come, if you don’t want,” he said. “Seriously, I’m fine.”

“It’s okay, Virgil,” Patton insisted. “We could all use a break. Maybe we can even go to the fair grounds to get something to eat!”

Roman gasped as he jumped to hover in front of them. “Ooh, doesn’t Simple Wok have a booth?! We should check that out at some point!”

“Ah, yes, over-priced and over-salted noodles,” Logan grumbled. “What a wise use of our Lien.”

“There’s more than just _noodles_ in them, Logan,” Roman shot, crossing his arms. “Have you ever had the seafood special? The fish is cooked to _perfection!”_

Patton paled, and his voice cracked. “What?!”

“Uhh, I mean…”

Virgil grunted and took a step away from them. “Look, you guys go wherever you want. I’m going back to our room.”

“It would be beneficial for you to eat something,” Logan pointed out.

“I’m not hungry.”

“You may not feel like it, but after a panic attack like that—”

“Logan, I’m _not eating!”_

The other three froze, and the air around them grew tense; other students passing by shot them a look, to which Virgil curled away from. He let out a huff and frowned, rubbing his face.

“Look, I’m sorry,” he sighed. “I’m just…”

“Overwhelmed,” Patton softly finished.

Virgil slowly nodded. “Yeah.”

Roman let out a hum and landed. He placed a hand on Virgil’s shoulder, but when he ripped away, he settled for placing it on his own hip instead. “Maybe taking a break isn’t such a bad idea.”

Letting out a slow, shaky breath, Virgil let his arms relax a bit. “Yeah, that… That sounds good. I just don’t want to keep you guys from anything.”

“Personally, I don’t know of anything that would require our presence immediately,” Logan said. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“Logan! _Logan!!_ ”

“Logie!!”

Logan froze, eyes widening as he spun around. The others followed suit.

“Uh, Lo?” Patton asked. “Do you know them?”

Further down the path, and man and a woman were sprinting towards them. The man’s face was mostly covered by a dark blue cloak and medical mask, and the woman’s head by a hijab, but Logan didn’t need those details to know exactly who they were.

He blinked.

“Ah,” he said. “It’s my parents.”

“Your _parents?!_ ”

Before he could respond, the two tackled him to the ground.

The other three let out yelps and jumped to get them off, but were stopped by the sound of laughter. Logan wasn’t cringing or trying to get away; instead, his arms wrapped awkwardly around theirs, and he was laughing softly.

“Father, Esther, please!” he chuckled. “You’ll draw attention!”

“Oh, who’s gonna care?! All they’re seeing is a family that’s been separated for too long!” the man laughed.

Regardless, they pulled apart and climbed to their feet, pausing when they saw the wide eyes of the other three. The man gasped and pointed at them.

“You’re his teammates!” he exclaimed. “Patton, Roman, and Virgil, right?! You kids were _fantastic_ today!”

The woman beamed and nodded, holding up a pair of balled fists. “A set of promising Huntsmen for sure! You’re the perfect team for our Logie!”

Virgil raised an eyebrow, smirk forming. “’Logie’?”

“Yes, it’s a term of endearment Esther has attributed to me,” Logan explained.

Patton smiled, leaning out just a bit from where he was hidden behind Roman. “Aw, that’s sweet.”

“You know what _else_ is sweet?! That knock out you made!” his father laughed, punching Logan’s shoulder. “What a hit!”

“That Sanders kid really had no idea what was coming!” Esther added. She pulled him into a headlock. “Way to beat the competition!”

He grabbed him from the other side before pecking Esther on the lips and ruffling Logan’s hair. “Where’d you learn to fight like that?!”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Oh, I may have gotten a few tips over the years from a couple of exquisite Hunters…”

“You two _are_ Hunters, aren’t you?” Roman asked. “What in the world are you doing here? I thought Logan said you were on a mission in Vacuo of some sort!”

Logan’s father scoffed and waved his hand. “And miss the chance to watch our son in his first big league tournament? Never!” He yanked the medical mask down to his neck and beamed a bright, white grin. “You can call me Virtus. Really, it’s so great to meet you guys! Thanks for taking care of our son!”

“Oh, we’re not—”

“We aren’t really—”

Virtus let out a loud laugh and threw his head back. “Humble kids, huh? Reminds me of my days back at Haven!”

His hood tipped over, causing long, dirty blond hair to spill out and over his shoulders. Logan ripped away and scrambled to snatch it up, stuffing it back into place without missing a beat.

“Father!” he hissed. “You _must_ keep your hood up! What if someone saw?!”

Grimacing, Virtus clung tight to his hood and spun his head wildly; as soon as he was sure no one was looking, he let out a breath.

“That was a close one,” he muttered. He reached up and ruffled Logan’s hair. “Thanks, kid.”

Logan pulled away and fixed it, but not without a small smile. “Just be careful.”

“Hey, that’s our line!” Esther laughed. She ran a quick hand through his hair, as well; he sighed and let it remain mussed.

“Um,” Roman said, “Why, exactly, is it, that you have you keep yourself hidden at all times?”

Virtus winked. “Well, when you’re Hunters like us, you gotta keep your potential enemies on their toes in case they’re searching for you!”

Virgil paled. “What?”

“You never know who’s after you,” Esther added, leaning forward and waving her fingers. “Someone could be _right here_ , hiding in the shadows, just _waiting_ for their moment to strike!”

“Please, you two. We aren’t children,” Logan said. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at them. “We know the dangers that come with being Hunters. I would appreciate it if you _didn’t_ attempt to frighten my friends, especially considering the fact that we’ve already had a few encounters with people trying to kidnap us.”

Virtus grinned. “How can you be kidnapped if you’re not kids anymore?”

“Father.”

Patton let out a giggle and slammed his hand over his mouth; Logan shot him a sharp glare.

“Do not encourage him, Patton,” he huffed.

He coiled back further behind Roman. “Sorry…”

Roman paused, glancing over his shoulder as Logan’s parents went back to doting all over him. Patton had his arms wrapped around himself as tight as the film that he could still practically feel yanking the sword out of his hands. He was chewing on his lip hard enough that Roman feared he was about to draw blood; his brows were furrowed, and his eyes wide, glued to Virtus’s boots.

_Ah,_ Roman thought.

He pushed his wing back to cover Patton’s field of vision, and then he let out a wail, throwing a hand over his forehead.

“Oh, how _parched_ I am after all that fighting! And how _foolish_ I am for having left my water bottle in our dorm!” he cried. He fell back against Patton, light enough to keep them from falling over. “Please, Patton, I _beg_ of you, go fetch it for me before I perish!”

Virgil raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. “Roman, you can fly.”

“I _beg_ thee, Patton!” he repeated. “And please, take our dear Virgil on this perilous journey! It could take _weeks!_ Or _months!_ Or however long it will take for a nap to replenish your energy!”

“Aw, you poor thing!” Patton exclaimed, muffled by the wing pressed against his face. “Of course we’ll go! Where’d you leave it?”

“I’m afraid I can’t remember! My mind is far too gone to recall! You’ll just have to spend however much time is needed to search for it!”

Logan rolled his eyes.

Patting Roman on the shoulder, Patton peered around and gave him a reassuring smile. “Don’t you worry, kiddo. Virgil and I will find it!” he declared. “Where can we find you? You probably need to sit somewhere…”

“Oh, _thank_ you!” Roman stood up straight and turned, keeping a wing out between Patton and Virtus. “Just contact me on my scroll, I’ll let you know! You are a _saint_ , dearest Patton!”

He nodded and grabbed Virgil by the hand, dragging him off without another word. As soon as they were out of sight, Roman smiled and turned back to the Lyceums.

“I hear Team AMBR is about to have their match,” he said. “Would any of you like to join me in watching what is _sure_ to be an almost flawless victory from two skilled students, one handsome boyfriend, and their wonderful yet irritating leader?”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were dying of dehydration?”

“Oh, no! That was just a ploy to get those two to go take a nap!” Roman admitted. “I don’t even _own_ a water bottle, truthfully!”

“Roman, you realize that Patton is just going to spend his whole afternoon searching for that nonexistent water bottle instead, right?” Logan pointed out.

He paused, and then he shrugged. “I’m sure Virgil will figure it out and explain it to him.”

Logan sighed. He turned to face his parents and placed his hands behind his back. “Well, if it’s alright with you two, I _would_ like to watch some more matches and evaluate the students of the other schools. I know you’ve probably seen more than enough fighting out in the field and aren’t too excited to watch more—”

“Are you _kidding?!_ I was worried you were gonna say no!” Virtus exclaimed.

Logan and Roman blinked. “What?”

Esther laughed. “Oh, come on, you think it’s like this out in the field? It’s life or death out there!” she said. “Here, there are rules! You can root against your favorite team without worrying about the danger!”

“And your partner getting knocked out doesn’t mean they’re going to be killed,” Virtus added, shooting a wink at Roman.

“Besides, we’re not going to be here for the whole competition. As long as we’re spending time with you and your friends, Logie, we’d love to do whatever you guys want while we’ve got the time!”

“Oh. Um, well,” Logan stuttered, “Then I suppose we’d better get back to the colosseum before we miss many more matches.”

Esther and Roman cheered; she held up a hand, which he gave a high five with a twirl in the air. As he shot off back towards the airships, she grabbed Logan’s hand and dragged him along, pressing a rough kiss into his hair. He let out a noise of protest, but followed along anyway.

Virtus stayed still for a moment and crossed his arms, watching them go with a soft smile. A warmth settled in his chest; he glanced up at the clouds before looking back at Logan.

A flash of magenta caught his eye. His smile dropped.

A woman with a long ponytail was stepping off the ship just in front of his family. Her back was turned, but her tattered, pink cloak revealed enough armor and ammo for him to take note.

She looked to the side. Sunlight glinted off of the metal guard over her mouth.

“Father?”

Virtus blinked, glancing to where Logan stood, raising his eyebrows at him. By the time he looked back to where she was, the woman was gone.

Narrowing his eyes, he pulled the medical mask back over his mouth and headed towards the ship.

* * *

_New Message from: [Deleted]_

_Hey!_

_New Message from: [Deleted]_

_How have you been?_

_New Message from: [Deleted]_

_I hope you’ve been good. We’ve been doing alright here!_

_New Message from: [Deleted]_

_We love and miss you a lot_

_New Message from: [Deleted]_

_Call me sometime, okay?_

_Delete Messages?_

_> YES< >NO<_

* * *

_“And that’s it! Team SVIJ wins the match for Haven Academy!”_

Nila leapt out of her seat, throwing her arms out. “What?! No way! He _totally_ had her cornered!”

“Were we watching the same match?!” Roman shot back. “She wiped the floor with him!”

“Um, did you _see_ his use of Fire Dust?!”

As the stage began to reset, Logan slid down and pinched the bridge of his nose. “At this rate, the two of you are going to start attracting Grimm…”

“Oh, it’s all in good fun! Haven’t you ever placed your bets on a match?” Virtus asked.

“Considering you never allowed me to go to matches by myself, no, I haven’t.”

On the other side of Logan, Thamir laughed. “We can bet on this one, if you’d like.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t we both rooting for the same team?”

“Eh, like your dad said, it’s all in good fun. I’m sure they’ll understand,” Thamir replied. “Wanna wager… a cup of coffee?”

Logan smiled. “That sounds adequate.”

Thamir grinned and looked back at the field. “Good,” he said, “Cause I happen to know a nice little coffee shop down in Vale that’s got some pretty good stuff.”

“Oh? Which shop would that be?”

_“Up next, we have Team SAMM of Atlas versus Team AMBR of Beacon!”_

Roman screamed and shot into the air, gesturing wildly at the teams coming onto the field. “That’s my boyfriend _!”_ he screeched. “That’s my _boyfriend!”_

“And your brother,” Lloyd called.

“Right, right, of course—Oh, look at how the light just accentuates his _eyes!_ Look how _handsome_ he is!”

“No wonder Anole doesn’t like them dating,” Thamir muttered.

Esther snorted and snuggled into Virtus’s arm. “That’s just young love.”

Riad turned around and waved up at Roman; in return, he beamed and shot a kiss. Grinning, Riad moved to give one back, but Anole grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him around to face the other team before he got the chance.

“C’mon, dude, focus,” he huffed.

Riad let out a soft laugh and got into a fighting position. “Right. I’m all ears.”

“No, you’re not,” Marjani giggled, pulling her swords out of their sheaths. “You’re a whole body!”

“Babe, please,” Bora sighed.

Across the way, one of the four girls in front of them laughed.

“Thank the gods you clarified. I would have shifted my whole strategy to fighting a giant ear if you hadn’t have said something,” the girl in pink said, pointing to her faded, cloudy eyes. She raised her eyebrows and smirked. “Might’ve just ruined your chances of winning, though.”

Anole returned the look. “Oh, I wouldn’t bet on that.”

The one in the long, purple dress chuckled. “I certainly wouldn’t, either. We’re practically guaranteed to win, regardless of what Sakiz thinks she’s dueling against.”

The smaller screens popped up around the stage and began to spin, and the two teams turned to watch them slow to a stop.

“What do we got?” Sakiz asked.

“They’ve got the Volcano Fields,” the girl with feathers poking out of her scalp answered. “We’ve got… Shit.”

“What?”

“The pirate ship,” the one in purple said. “In a pool.”

As the floor began to recede, the girl with feathers looked down at her metal arm and leg. “ _Shit_ ,” she repeated.

The girl in all black turned to glare at AMBR, but kept her face towards her teammate. “Don’t worry, Myrtille,” she said, “we’ll keep you out of the water.”

As soon as the stages were set in place, the two teams jumped into their battle stances.

“What’s the plan, Anole?” Bora asked.

“Operation Four Square,” he answered. “Let’s knock these girls out as quick as we can.”

“ _In three… two… one…”_

Myrtille looked to their leader. “Sakiz?”

_“BEGIN!_ ”

“Mauve, Ash, go!”

The girl in black shoved her chain into the hands of the girl in purple, who wrapped it around an arrow and fired it into the birds’ nest at the top of the mast. Ash spun her arm around Mauve’s waist and lifted her into the air just as the chain sent them flying after it.

“Don’t let them get the high ground!” Anole shouted.

Bora and Marjani sprinted towards the ship, each going in a wide arc on opposite sides of the remaining members of Team SAMM. Sakiz and Myrtille drew their weapons—a pair of machetes and an ice saw, respectively –and charged towards the boys.

Riad lifted his mace. “Plan?”

“Keep Myrtille out of the water and Sakiz out of the lava,” Anole ordered.

“That’s it?!”

Myrtille threw her saw down between them, and the two leapt apart.

“Do you have a better idea?!” Anole shot back.

Riad opened his mouth to respond, but Sakiz swung her machetes at Anole, drawing his attention away to dodge. Myrtille shot towards him just a second later, and Riad had to throw up his mace to block.

In the stands, Roman punched the air. “That’s right, don’t you _touch_ my boyfriend!”

“Roman, this fight couldn’t continue if there was no contact,” Logan pointed out.

Calanthe let out a yell and began to repeatedly smack Lloyd’s arm, grinning as she pointed towards the ship. “Look! _Look!_ They’re about to do that—that bounce-board thing they do!”

“Bounce-board thing?” Virtus repeated.

As Bora and Marjani made it to the bottom of the mast, Bora held out her scythe, and Marjani hopped onto the blade; she swung as hard as she could at an angle, and Marjani leapt off at the peak, sending her flying to about the height as the bird’s nest. As she began to descend again, she drew her swords and wedged one in between the planks.

Marjani glanced up just in time to see Mauve aiming an arrow directly at her face; she gasped and flung herself under the post, digging her other blade into the wood of the mast. The arrow slammed into the sand, just barely missing Bora as she sprinted her way up the mast. As soon as she was close enough, the girls latched hands, and Marjani pulled Bora up to stand next to her.

“What do you think, should we pull a ‘Bi-Bi’ on them?” she asked.

“You read my mind,” Bora replied.

She swung to the other side of the mast and threw her scythe up to the edge of the bird’s nest while Marjani jumped back and stuck both of her blades back between the boards. The two launched themselves into the air…

…Only to find Ash and Mauve standing back to back with their weapons already pointed towards them.

Mauve fired a black arrow, to which Marjani spun and sliced in half as Mauve hopped onto the edge and flipped backwards; she twisted to shove Marjani’s head into her bow and held it tight against her neck.

At the same time, Ash flung her chain to wrap around Bora, the sudden pinning of her arms causing her to drop her scythe. She yanked, and Bora went flying around the other side of the mast, slamming into Marjani just as Mauve leapt off of her, kicking her forward in the process. The chain continued its momentum, and within just a few seconds, the girls were wrapped tight around the mast.

“This is homophobic,” Marjani grunted.

Anole dove backwards and rolled as one of Sakiz’s blades swooped by, just barely tweaking the tip of his nose. As he slid to his feet and ground to a stop, he felt one of his shoes _crunch_ at the very edge of the lava field. He shot it a glance and cursed, moving to raise his bow to push Sakiz back, but she slammed both of her machetes down and pushed him further onto the rock.

She gave him one final shove before spinning and raising her weapons; Anole took this chance to snap his bow apart, and he flung one half around her wrist just before she could strike.

He whipped her around, realizing a second too late that they’d been standing mere feet away from a bubbling lava pit. Holding back a yelp, he fired a shot of Gravity Dust and yanked her back just as her foot scraped against the drop. She slammed into his chest with a high-pitched yelp, and he held her tight. A plume of lava shot into the air.

“Watch yourself!” he exclaimed.

Sakiz slammed the top of her head into his chin; as he stumbled back, she slammed a punch into his stomach, and a knee into his face.

“ _Don’t_ make those jokes,” she growled.

Guilt and heat shot up his spine, and he waved his hands.

“I—N-No, that—That wasn’t what I meant!”

Letting out a yell, she whirled around and kicked him in the head, knocking him to the ground.

Metal _clink_ ed and _clank_ ed as Myrtille and Riad parried, inching their way back and forth into each other’s space with each hit. They glared and kept their eyes close on the other’s, neither daring to look away. The strain and the autumn heat mixed into sweat dripping down their foreheads; a drop fell into Riad’s eye, but he forced himself to ignore the intense stinging.

Myrtille suddenly reached way back and spun her ice saw before gripping it tight with two hands and stabbing it towards Riad. He twisted just out of reach; while she readied another attack, he pressed a button on his mace and slammed it into the ground. She jumped just in time to avoid the sheet of ice spreading, but slipped as soon as she landed, hitting the ground with an _Oomph!_

Riad took a second to glance up at the scoreboard, and then over towards the bird’s nest; eyes widening, he whirled around towards their leader.

“Anole, the girls!”

He snapped his head up to follow his teammate’s gaze, letting out a curse as soon as he spotted them. Sakiz let out a yell as she slammed her machetes down; he rolled out of the way just as they made contact with the floor. Anole used the momentum to slide to his feet and sprinted forward, tackling her just long enough to wrap his bow string around her waist. Firing another Gravity Dust bullet, he leapt into the air, dragging her with him, and twisted.

As soon as he unwrapped his weapon, he put his feet on her stomach and kicked her, sending her into the Volcano Field and him towards the water. He watched close to make sure she landed safely—if roughly —on one of the rocky hills.

“Don’t move!” he yelled, before he sunk into the water.

Riad threw his hands out, glancing back at Sakiz before shooting a glare towards where Anole had disappeared. “Bro!”

His legs were suddenly swept out from underneath him, and he and Myrtille slid across the field, him struggling to get his calves out of her grip while she kept pushing them towards the edge of the ice. He dug the spikes of his mace down to try to slow them, using a bit of Fire Dust to help the cause, but she punched it away with her metal arm. The force ripped the handle from him, and he watched with an outstretched hand as it slid out of reach.

They finally made it to tile; the rough tiles burned Riad’s bare arms as they skidded across. He moved to kick Myrtille away, but she held him firm stood, pressing a foot onto his chest.

“Ha! _Gotcha!_ ” she exclaimed.

Movement caught his eye; he looked over to watch Sakiz as she carefully felt her way around and tried to find a way down.

“ _Don’t move_ ,” she mockingly said under her breath, using her foot to search for a good place to put it. “How about _you_ don’t tell me what to—”

A shriek slipped out of her throat as a rock crumbled; she slid down a steep edge, digging her fingers into the ground as her legs and torso began to dangle in mid-air, right over a bubbling pool of lava.

Riad let out a yelp of his own and snapped his head to look at Myrtille. “Dude, your leader—!”

“What, do you think I’m an idiot?!” she snapped. “I might be a starling, but that doesn’t make me a birdbrain! You can’t trick _me_ into looking away as I’m going for the kill!”

Sakiz tried to pull herself up, only to lose her grip and fall another few inches. A pebble dropped and bounced off of her foot at just the right angle, landing on a loose boulder that was just out of her reach.

Myrtille lifted her ice saw like a golf club; Riad refused to look, forcing himself to try to remember anything and everything from those seemingly pointless math classes they’d all been forced to take.

Roman jumped to his feet. “Riad, _get out of there!_ ”

With a deep breath, Riad summoned as much aura into his fist as he possibly could and slammed it against the floor.


	3. It's Brawl in the Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riad’s risky move comes to play as Roman and their friends watch and worry in the stands. Will it pay off, or will it cost Team AMBR the match?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Fighting (in a tournament), mentions of alcohol

Anole kept his head under the shallow water and swam as fast as he could, eyes glued to the blurs fighting at the top of the bird’s nest. Each kick of his feet sent sand up to cloud the water further; by the time he made it to the other end of the pool, he could hardly see a thing.

He pressed his hands on the rising bank and scrambled onto dry land, frantically pushing his now-soaked bangs out of his face.

The ground jolted beneath his feet.

Letting out a yelp, Anole stumbled and crashed face-first into the sand as the stage began to tremble.

Ash and Mauve gasped and threw themselves onto the edges of the bird’s nest, gripping with white knuckles while Bora and Marjani grabbed each other’s hands and beamed.

Myrtille toppled backwards and fell to her knees. She slammed her ice saw into the floor before slamming her metal leg down next to it, cleats shooting out from the bottom.

The sound of cracking rock sounded across the arena, and as Sakiz lost her hold, the loose boulder toppled over. It splashed into the lava pit, sending bubbles flying everywhere.

Sakiz landed right on top with a heavy _oof!_ , and only a drop of lava hit her armor.

The earthquake slowed to a stop.

Riad sat up and let out a sigh of relief before Myrtille let out a cry and tackled him back to the ground.

Looping his bow around the quiver on his back, Anole leapt onto the mast, the scaly grooves on his palms sticking easily to the wood. He swung his feet far behind him as he used his upper body strength to scale his way up. When he reached the bottom of the bird’s nest, he braced his heels below him; he walked his hands across the bottom as quickly as he could before gripping the boards on the side and swinging out.

Through the cracks, he watched as Ash threw an uppercut into Marjani’s chin; in return, she kicked her back, sending her struggling to keep her balance on the edge.

Anole grinned.

He gripped the top of the nest and hoisted himself up as he threw out a leg to knock Ash to the ground. Mauve whipped around and aimed an arrow at him, but he somersaulted onto the floor just as it whizzed past his hair. Yanking his own weapon out, he shot an arrow through her dress, pinning her to the side of the compartment.

“Four square, huh?” Bora huffed.

Growling, Anole scrambled over and started to unwrap the chain. “Shut up, not my best plan.”

The chain dropped to the ground, and Marjani shoved one of her swords into Bora’s hands. “Don’t blame, fight,” she said.

There was a laugh behind them.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Mauve replied.

The three whipped around to see her balancing on the side of the bird’s nest, her taut bow aiming at their feet. Ash crouched on the floor next to her, her chain in one hand and Anole’s arrow in the other.

“This fight’s over.”

She fired a red arrow and dropped; Ash leapt out after her, grasping her by the wrist. The arrow wedged itself into the wood in front of Anole’s feet and started to flash.

“Great,” he grumbled.

_Ka-BOOM!_

Nila gasped as they watched three bodies go sailing across the field. “They’re not gonna land it!”

Thamir grimaced. “So that means…”

The buzzer sounded.

_“Ooh, what an upset!”_ Professor Port’s voice echoed around the arena. “ _Three out of the four members of Team AMBR have been eliminated by knock-out!”_

_“Truly, what an unfortunate circumstance! It is now up to Mr. Airtafae to win this match, with his worryingly-low Aura levels after that astonishing demonstration of his semblance!”_

“Four against one,” Lloyd finished. “This isn’t going to end well.”

Roman whirled around to glare at him. “How _dare_ you assume that my boyfriend can’t hold his own!” he exclaimed. “Riad can _and will_ take these fine ladies single-handedly and destroy them!”

“I have reason to believe you are _highly_ overestimating him,” Logan stated.

“Roman’s definitely got one hell of a pair of rose-tinted glasses,” Thamir laughed.

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Roman doesn’t wear glasses…”

Riad kicked Myrtille off of him and dove for his mace; as soon as it was in his hands, he slammed it into the ground, setting off an explosion that had both him and Myrtille flying in opposite directions. He skidded to a stop, one hand on the ground for balance, as she tumbled towards the water.

Just before she fell in, Mauve leapt over the water and shoved her down to the stage. Ash landed next to them and launched her chain into the lava field, snatching Sakiz and bringing her to safety in a second.

They slowly stalked around him; he watched carefully, gripping his weapon tight.

“You might as well give up now, kid,” Ash said. “There’s no winning this match for your precious team.”

He shot her a confident smirk. “I don’t stop fighting until the end.”

Myrtille let out a hum. “That’s respectable. You seem like a cool guy. I kinda wish we didn’t have to do this to you.”

“Let’s get dinner sometime after this,” Sakiz offered.

“Sorry, girls. I’m already taken.”

Behind him, he heard the creaking of a bow.

“Who said any of us were interested?” Mauve asked.

Riad whirled around and swung his mace, the spikes crashing into the arrow just before it hit him; he ducked just as a machete flew above his head and swung his leg to knock Sakiz’s feet out from under her. As she fell forward, he leapt up and landed an uppercut on her jaw. He snatched the chain as it flew towards him, yanking Ash into a kick in the stomach. The ice saw flew down out of the corner of his eye, and he threw his mace up just in time to block.

Myrtille spun and twirled her saw, wrapping the chain of his mace around the handle before yanking him over and putting him in a headlock. He threw his elbow into her stomach, but she held her ground.

“Now!”

With wide eyes, Riad watched the other three come sprinting towards him.

A punch to the stomach.

A kick to the shin.

A headbutt to the face.

A buzzer.

_“Oh, and with that brutal elimination, Team SAMM proceeds to the Doubles Round!”_

As the girls dropped their stances to cheer, Riad slumped to the floor, panting heavily. He squeezed his eyes shut and hissed through his teeth.

“ _Riad!_ ” a voice screamed.

Roman shot into the air and towards the stage, ignoring his friends’ cries in favor of keeping his focus on his fallen love. It was hardly a split second later when, not unlike a bird to a well-cleaned window, he crashed into the shield protecting the stands from harm.

He fell to the floor with a groan; when he sat up and looked over to Riad, he was slowly making his way towards the locker rooms, shoulders low and his mace dragging behind.

* * *

“That was awful.”

Virtus offered a soft, sympathetic smile and put his hand on Roman’s shoulder as they stepped off the airship. “Yeah, that’s tournaments, kid. It’s always the people you want to win that lose.”

“But it’s so not fair!” Roman exclaimed, throwing his hands up. “How did _we_ pass onto Round Two and not AMBR?!”

“We were against different teams, Roman,” Logan pointed out. “There is no evidence to suggest that we would have won against SAMM, nor that Team AMBR would have lost to Team JTTT.”

Roman looked away. “I know, but… still. Seeing Riad like that…” He sighed. “I’d at least have felt a little better if Anole had actually let me _talk_ to them.”

Esther adjusted her hijab. “Give them time to lick their wounds. They need it.”

Giving his shoulder one final pat, Virtus put his hands on his hips and stopped to look at the group. “Well, I don’t know about you three, but watching all that fighting made me hungry. Whaddya say we meet up with the other two and head into Vale to get something to eat?”

“Why not go to the fairgrounds?” Roman asked.

“Can’t exactly eat in public without pulling _that_ down, now, can we?” Esther said, pointing to Virtus’s mask.

“Oh. Right.”

Logan opened his scroll. “I’ll send Virgil a message to have them meet us—”

“Guys! _Guys!_ ”

They spun around to see Virgil already sprinting towards them, Patton hot on his heels. The Lyceums each reached for their weapons; as soon as they saw the huge grin on Virgil’s face, they relaxed.

The two skidded to a stop, and Virgil frantically pointed behind him towards the courtyard. “Did you guys see that?! _Please_ tell me you saw that!”

“See what?” Roman asked.

Virgil let out a cry and dug his hands into his hair. “You just missed this _incredible_ fight!”

“In the courtyard?”

“Yes!”

“There was this Huntsman with a big sword,” Patton explained, “And he was fighting with an Atlas Military woman!”

“Not just any woman—a _specialist!”_ Virgil added. “They were so _fast_ and _strong_ —dude would’ve beaten her clean if General Ironwood hadn’t stepped in!”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Who would be foolish enough to attack an Atlas Military Specialist?”

Patton shrugged. “I think his name was Crow, or something.”

Roman froze. “Wait—wait—you said he had a big sword? Was he drunk?!”

“Um… Maybe?”

His face turned a deep red. “Was… Was it Qrow Branwen…?”

“The one from Team STRQ?” Virtus asked. “Is he still picking fights?”

Roman buried his face in his hands, wings curling around himself. “Gods…! That was one of my teachers at Signal!”

“What?!”

“The drunk dude?!”

“He’s a _teacher?!_ ”

“Not anymore,” Roman replied as he dropped his hands. “Yang said that he left to go on some mission that was going to last a really long time or something. Didn’t think he’d be returning at all, let alone like _that_ …”

Logan crossed his arms. “And where would Yang have acquired that information?”

“Um… Her and Ruby’s dad?” Roman shot. “He’s their uncle.”

Virtus smacked the heel of his hand against his forehead. “Gah, of _course_ she is! Should’ve known from the moment Ruby pulled out her scythe!”

“Oh, come on! You couldn’t have guessed it just by that!” Esther exclaimed as she swatted his shoulder. “That girl in Team AMBR had one, too! It’s the _hair_ that should’ve given it away!”

“Her hair doesn’t look anything like his!”

“Oh, what are you—?!”

“Okay, okay—” Logan put his hands between the two and shook his head. “If we want to eat in Vale, we cannot start this conversation. Patton, Virgil, would you like to join us?”

Virgil put his hands in his pockets. “Sure, I could go for some food. Where are we going?”

“I’ve got a few places in mind we can pick from,” Virtus said. “We can decide when we get closer.”

“Trust us when we say the food is great,” Esther added. “One of the places has a pumpkin bread that is absolutely to die for.”

Roman perked up. “Oh? Riad _loves_ pumpkin bread! You _must_ tell me where I can find this!”

Logan looked to Patton; he frowned when he saw his arms wrapped around himself, looking away.

“Patton?”

His head snapped up. “Huh?”

“Are you going to be joining us for dinner?” he asked again.

Shifting his weight between his feet, Patton looked away hesitantly and shrugged. “I… don’t think I can,” he whispered. “I don’t really have any Lien…”

“Who said you were paying?” Virtus cut in.

Patton blinked at him, eyes wide. “U-Uh… I thought…”

Virtus cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Hey, c’mon. We’ve got the money, and you kids definitely earned it today!”

“No, it’s—it’s okay, you don’t have to—”

“We _want_ to,” he replied. “We wanna get to know you kids better, anyway. What better way to do it than over some grub?”

“I…”

Mouth still half open, his eyes flicked between Virtus’ and Logan’s shoes; when they lifted to look at Logan’s face, he did his best to offer an encouraging smile. Patton shrunk in on himself further before turning to Virtus.

“Are you sure…?”

Virtus beamed. “Absolutely! C’mon, now. This restaurant isn’t going to pick itself!”

He turned and started to lead the group back towards the airships while Logan waited in place for Patton to catch up. As soon as he was near, he held out his hand; Patton glanced at it, softly shook his head, and scurried along.

Logan frowned before trailing after them.

* * *

The setting sun shone a soft, warm glow through the windows of the quiet diner. Though it was rather packed compared to a normal day, most of the tables kept their conversations soft and to themselves. Servers wandered between their tables, and the radio playing in the background left a calm atmosphere.

At a table near the back, one of the patrons slammed his fist down.

“Tallahassee couldn’t hold a flame to Pyrrha Nikos!” Virgil exclaimed.

“Are you kidding me?! She doesn’t even use her Semblance in battles!” Virtus shot back. “Tallahassee has _two_ AI in her armor! _Two!_ ”

“Yeah, exactly! Pyrrha doesn’t need any help! She can kick anyone’s butt with just her raw strength alone!”

Logan scooped up some pasta. “Virgil does have a point, Father. She would also surely allow the rest of Team JNPR to help her, whereas Tallahassee refuses to accept any help, be it from the Pinks, the Purples, or the Mercenaries.”

“Of course she wouldn’t, they’re all idiots!” Virtus laughed, nudging Logan hard enough that his food fell back to the plate. “That’s the whole point of the show!”

Patton frowned, looking to Virgil. “I thought it was about capture the flag in a canyon?”

Roman let out a groan and dropped his fork to run his hands through his hair. “Is there nothing else we can talk about other than a theoretical fight between a cartoon character and a _real person_?!”

“PvP isn’t a cartoon,” Virgil huffed. “It’s made in a video game.”

“Whatever.”

“I don’t know, Roman. Pink Versus Purple seems to be a show you would enjoy,” Logan said.

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yes. You don’t agree?”

“Uh… Not really,” he replied. “It’s, like, all dialogue. No singing or dancing or any of that Volt Tawny crap.”

Roman gasped. “Did you just call _Volt Tawny_ —?!”

“Alright, alright, alright,” Esther interrupted. “Roman had a point earlier. We can debate fictional characters against each other any time, but we’ve got a whole tournament right in front of us that we’ll never get a second chance to speculate on! Why aren’t we pitting _two_ real people against each other?!”

“Like who?” Logan asked.

Patton poked at his small plate of fries. “What about that Penny girl that Ruby’s been hanging out with?”

Virtus slapped his hands together and pointed at him, ignoring the way he flinched. “Now _she’s_ a real fighter!” he exclaimed. “I would not be surprised _at all_ if she were to win this year! That kid’s got some real power behind those swords!”

“No, way! Coco Adel’s got it in the bag!” Esther said.

“Ohh, you’re just saying that because you like her weapon!”

Logan cleared his throat, rendering his parents silent. “I believe we _do,_ in fact, still have a matter we need to discuss about the tournament.”

Roman sunk into the booth with a sigh; Virgil looked between the two with a raised eyebrow. “And that would be…?”

“Who will be proceeding from our team to the Doubles round.” He reached up to fiddle with his necklace as he began to inspect his suddenly very interesting pasta. “I… would very much appreciate it if you would allow me to be one. I’ll admit that my reasons are more… sentimental, than anything, but I’m sure you know that I would fight to my full potential in the name of our team, regardless of the emotions behind it.”

Virtus gently put his hand on his shoulder; Logan swallowed thickly and placed his hand over top of his. He took a deep breath and looked at each of his three teammates in turn.

“That being said,” he continued, voice cracking and steadying within a syllable, “It would mean a great deal to me if you were to choose me to proceed forward in the tournament.”

“Oh, Logan!” Patton cooed. “Of course you can!”

“You _are_ the strongest member of our team,” Roman added. “I don’t think there was any chance we’d tell you _not_ to.”

Virgil smiled and gave him a soft kick under the table. “Yeah, dude, if anyone can win this for us, it’s you. You’re gonna destroy whoever we go up against, no matter who it is.” Then, with a thumbs up, he added, “You’ve got our support.”

If there was an extra sheen to Logan’s eyes, no one said a word.

“Thank you,” he thickly responded. “I promise I will not disappoint you.”

Virtus frowned, brow furrowing as he turned to look at Logan. “What?”

Logan cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. “Um— I believe we still need to choose one more of us to join me in the next round.”

“Uh… Yeah,” Virgil carefully replied, watching as Virtus and Esther shot each other a glance over Logan’s head. “Yeah, um… I think Patton should be the one to go.”

Patton startled, dropping a fry back onto his plate. “M-Me?!”

“That is an excellent suggestion,” Logan replied.

With wide eyes, Patton leaned forward in the booth to watch as Roman nodded along with them. His mouth opened and closed a few times as his gaze darted between the three.

“Why… Why me?” he asked, voice about an octave higher than normal.

“Well, _I_ sure as hell don’t want to be out on stage again,” Virgil said. He took a deep breath and leaned back. “Not in front of that many people, at least.”

“ _And_ , Roman was the only one of us to get knocked out in our fight,” Logan added. “Not to mention how wonderful an opportunity it would be to help you train yourself in fighting with your semblance.”

Patton spluttered. “But—But you _know_ I can’t! If—”

His eyes flicked to Virtus for just a split second. He shrunk in on himself.

“…You know why I can’t use it in the tournament,” he quietly finished.

“With all due respect, Pat, I don’t think it matters much at this point,” Roman piped in. “They’ve probably already seen the match.”

Gaze falling to the floor, Patton reached up to fiddle with the edges of his collar. “That’s what I’m afraid of…”

“What does it even matter?” Virgil questioned, gently nudging his arm. “You haven’t talked to them in months, and it’s not like you’re going to any time soon. If they try to come fight you, the three of us would get rid of them in a second. You know that, don’t you?”

“I… do, I guess…”

“Then there should be nothing to fear,” Logan stated. Then, with a soft smile, he added, “Please, Patton. I truly believe you are the best person to participate in the next round with me.”

Patton looked up at him, still hunching in on himself. “…You’re sure?”

Logan held out a hand. “I’m positive.”

There was a long moment where he stared at it and chewed on his lip. The others watched with baited breath.

Finally, Patton let out a breath, swallowed thickly, and took Logan’s hand.

“I’ll do my best.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the best birthday gift of all: getting to update this fic ❤️


	4. Lessons Learned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the second round of the tournament arriving, some of the team can't help but question where they stand in the minds of those they love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Fighting (In a tournament), arguing, breakdown, talk about past death of a parent
> 
> I spent the last few days pounding out this chapter so I could post it today. Miss you, Monty. Keep moving forward.

_New Message from: Mom_

_Hi, sweetie. Been thinking about you a lot lately. I ran into Anise at the store yesterday (Remember her? Your friend Dominic’s mom), and she said she saw you fighting in the Vytal Tournament, so your dad and I looked it up. Happy to see your team made it into the next round. Dominic’s team apparently lost. He’s a little broken up about it. Maybe you could reach out, if you can find him. Anise would really appreciate it. I know you used to be close, so I’m sure he’d be happy to see you again._

_New Message from: Mom_

_Your sister said she tried to text you. Did they come through? She’s worrying her scroll might be getting a little old…_

_New Message from: Mom_

_Could you message me back, please?_

_Delete Messages?_

_> YES< >NO<_

* * *

Gunshots echoed through the training area, followed by a scream of frustration and the skidding of boots on the floor. Metal clanged and echoed, and footsteps pummeled.

After a moment, wings fluttered, and a body skidded across the floor. Roman groaned as he began to pick himself up.

“Had enough yet?”

Growling, he shot a glare over to where Anole was putting the halves of his bow back together. “Y’know, when I asked you to join me in training this morning, I _meant_ helping me instead of, you know, absolutely destroying me.”

Anole returned the look with a cross of his arms. “Uh, _y’know,_ ” he mocked, “I wouldn’t be kicking your ass so hard if you took two seconds to pay attention to where you are before you attack.”

“I do!” Roman exclaimed. When Anole only raised an eyebrow, he got to his feet and put his hands on his hips. “I _do!_ ”

“So what you’re saying is, you _meant_ to be blasted by Thomas’s semblance when saving Patton during round one and get your Aura knocked down by like, fifty percent?”

Roman’s face reddened. “That—That was one time!”

“And you were _totally_ aware of that Cephalo when you stopped to talk to Virgil when your teammates were in danger on your mission?”

“Alright, that’s hardly fair—”

“ _And_ you knew the White Fang was coming to kidnap you, and you let them do it on purpose?” Anole held up a finger in pause. “If that one’s true, I _might_ have to kill you myself.”

Roman groaned and threw his hands in the air. “Alright, I get it! So I tend to get tunnel vision in fights; big deal! It’s not like the distractions aren’t coming from the target themselves most of the time…”

Anole furrowed his brow and threw his arms out. “Wh— _none_ of those distractions came from—!” He cut himself off and sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “Roman. _Dude._ It’s not just about fighting,” he said. “You gotta think about this stuff in regular, day-to-day life, too.”

Roman let out a laugh. “As if we aren’t training for fighting to _be_ our day to day life.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Anole snapped. “This is _exactly_ what I’m saying! _I’m_ talking, like, people, and relationships and stuff, but you’re still focused on Hunter stuff!”

“Well, yeah! In case you haven’t noticed, we’re _kind of_ in the middle of a biannual world tournament!” he exclaimed. “I _do_ want my team to win, you know.”

“ _You_ were already knocked out! Because you weren’t paying attention!”

“I _was!_ Just because it was on my _teammate_ instead of my opponent doesn’t mean it was a bad thing!” Roman shot. “Patton could have gotten hurt if I hadn’t caught him!”

“And _you_ got hurt instead,” Anole lowly pointed out.

Roman reeled back into stunned silence. “I-I didn’t…” His fists balled as he searched for his words. “I still had Aura left…”

Anole let out a breath and stepped forward, opening his arms in invitation. “I know,” he said. “That’s not what I meant.”

Roman looked at his brother for a moment, eyes flicking down to his open arms; his breath came out in a rush as he tucked himself into his grip.

Anole held him close for a long few minutes, saying nothing about his shoulder growing increasingly damp. He rocked him gently and ran his fingers through his hair. In return, Roman’s wings slowly curled around them.

“You’re not bad at fighting,” Anole eventually muttered. As Roman’s grip tightened, he hastily added, “Really, you’re _not_. I’ve seen you wipe the floor in 1v1 classroom fights a hundred times over. You’re _good_ at what you do. You just… can’t be an idiot. You need to _think_ , and _pay attention_ , especially when you’re in the field. People are going to get hurt if you don’t.”

“I know,” Roman choked out.

“And that applies in regular life, too. You can’t just rush head-first into things without considering where they’re going to end up, or who it’s going to affect other than you… Especially when it involves other people.”

Roman frowned. He pulled back just enough to look Anole in the eye. “What do you mean?”

Anole, while he had the grace to appear the slightest bit embarrassed with the flush of his cheeks, gave his shoulders a squeeze and shrugged. “W-Well… Y’know, with you and Riad…”

“What _about_ us?”

“I…”

Yanking himself away, Roman put his hands on his hips and shot a glare that felt a hundred times worse than the ones just moments ago. “No, go on. I want to hear what you have to say about me and my boyfriend’s relationship.”

Anole looked away and shuffled. “He’s not just your boyfriend,” he attempted to say under his breath.

Roman could do nothing but stare at his own brother for a long moment, just processing the words that had come out of his mouth. If it wasn’t for the cool, early morning light seeping through the windows, he could have sworn he was starting to see red.

“Is _that_ what your problem is with us being together?” he snapped. “The fact that you don’t get to spend as much time with him anymore?”

“What? No, Roman—”

“You spend almost every moment with him that I’m not there, not to mention an _entire_ year before me, and you’re _jealous?_ ”

“Ro—”

“I cannot _believe_ that _that’s_ what’s been up your… your scaly ass this whole time! _Jealous_ because your brother and best friend are taking time away from _you_ to be happy _together!_ ”

“I don’t want you to get _hurt!”_

Roman froze. Anole huffed out a breath and ran a hand through his hair.

“Look, I just— I don’t know what I’d do if one of you got hurt because of the other,” he admitted. “It would suck _so much!_ I love you both so much, and I hate seeing either of you in pain! I hate seeing _anyone_ I love being in pain! And… And knowing I’d have to pick a side, pick only one of you to stick by, it’s just… Gods, I _hate_ it! And I’d especially hate it if I knew there was something I could have done to stop it!”

“…You think I’m going to hurt him,” Roman slowly said.

Anole stiffened. He finally looked back at Roman.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I think I know _exactly_ what you meant.”

“Roman…”

Before Anole could say another word, Roman shut his eyes and shook his head. He turned and headed towards the door.

“I know you hate us being together,” he called over his shoulder, “But you don’t have to be such a jerk about it.”

The door slammed shut a moment later. Anole was left in suffocating silence.

* * *

“You’re absolutely _sure_ you’re okay with me being your partner for this?”

Logan let out a soft sigh as he turned to look at his teammate. Patton’s fingers fiddled with the edge of his shield, and he was staring at the arena floor as if he expected it to jump out at him.

“Yes, Patton,” he said for what must have been the fifth time since they stepped onto the field. “You are undoubtedly the best choice for this fight, in many more ways than one.” After a beat, he added, “Besides, even if I were to change my mind, it’s far too late to do anything about it now.”

Patton’s head snapped up, eyes blown wide. “I-I’m sure there’s still time! The other team isn’t even here yet; I could run and go get Virgil, if you want!”

“There is no need, Patton. I was merely expressing a hypothetical situation,” Logan quickly corrected. “I _am_ happy to have you joining me for this fight.”

There was a beat where Patton could do nothing but blink owlishly at him; even after it passed, all he could do was look back at the floor and say, “…Oh.”

A purple rubber ball rolled up to their feet.

“Sorry!” a voice cried.

A girl wearing a red and white sports uniform sprinted over and scooped it up before jogging back to the other side of the platform, where another person stood, shaking his head.

“Valerie, come on,” he chuckled. “We haven’t even started and you’re losing track of that thing.”

“Come on, I just dropped it!” Valerie said back.

Her partner rolled his eyes, smile on his face, and leaned his weight on the long spear in his hands that was about his same height. His cloak slipped off of the gold plated armor that rested on his right arm. “Uh huh, and which piece of padding did it ‘drop-bounce’ off of?”

“Jo!” Valerie huffed.

Patton giggled at the banter, only to slap his hand over his mouth when it drew the attention of the other two to him. They stared at him for a beat, and then looked at each other and began to laugh.

“Nice to meet you,” Jo said. “Patton and Logan, right? Team PRVL?”

Logan nodded. “And you must be Valerie and Jo of Team SVIJ.”

“Huh, would you look at that,” he replied. “The boys and the girls _both_ did their homework.”

Valerie winked at Jo. “But only us girls are making it to the next round.”

“I’m not one right now, but you’ve got the spirit.”

Patton let out a soft whimper, but Logan only smiled.

“We’ll see about that,” he answered.

The platform beneath them shifted as the fields began to fill into place; all four turned and inspected them as they rose to the floor. A forest, pirate ship, the geysers, and…

Valerie gasped. “The gravity fields! Oh, you two are going down!”

“ _Val_ , don’t give our strategies away!”

_“In three… two… one…”_

They scrambled to get into position.

“ _BEGIN!”_

Valerie threw her ball in the air and jumped after it, twirling up just high enough to slam her padded knee into it, surrounding it in a bright purple glow, and send it flying towards Logan and Patton. The two dove out of the way just in time; when the ball hit the ground, it dimmed and skidded like it was made of stone. She leapt towards it and grabbed it while somersaulting, and as soon as she was back on her feet, she tossed it up and began to bounce it between her knees. The purple glow grew with each hit.

Logan caught himself from tumbling by placing one hand on the ground and pressing down hard until he slowed to a stop. The second he regained his balance, he changed his book into its pistol form and aimed at Valerie’s ball; just as he was about to fire, Jo’s spear flew in and knocked it out of his hand. While his weapon skidded away, the spear redirected itself and soared right back into Jo’s hand just as he started to charge at Logan.

He was quick to throw up his arm and block the first swing, but Jo was quicker, grabbing the bar between his spear’s double-blades and detaching it from its handle. He balanced the pole on Logan’s forearm armor and spun it; Logan ducked down and somersaulted underneath Jo’s legs just before it collided with the back of his head. Jo whipped around and slammed the blades toward him, but they smashed into the ground while Logan leapt up and sprinted towards his own weapon.

“ _That’s my son!”_ a voice cried from the stands.

Logan cast a quick glance up to where his father was on his feet, screaming and jumping up and down. He let out a huff of exasperation before focusing back on the fight.

Letting out a yelp, Patton hastily threw his shield in front of his face just before Valerie’s ball could hit. It bounced off, the impact creating a vibration so intense he could practically feel his bones shake, and shot back towards her. She jumped a few inches off of the ground to headbutt it against the purple sweatband on her forehead, right back into his shield. Patton whimpered and took a step back as another bout of discomfort shot through his whole body. He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to focus, but at the next hit, he felt a tingle run up his arms. He bit his tongue and tried to keep it in.

“Patton!”

A strap wrapped around his bicep and yanked him away just in time, the ball just grazing the side of his head as he was whipped away. He found himself tumbling across the floor, only landing on his feet by chance; when he inevitably lost his balance, Logan caught him by the shoulders and righted him.

“Breathe, Patton,” he ordered. “Try to focus it.”

With a battle cry, Jo leapt into the air and brandished their re-combined spear over their head. Patton shoved Logan away and held up his shield. Jo didn’t miss a beat; he shifted just enough to use it as a springboard and flipped over him, choosing instead to javelin the spear at Logan, who sidestepped it and flung his book into his stomach. The impact sent Jo flying into the gravity fields, and his spear wasn’t far after.

A split second later, the glowing rubber ball flew between their heads, followed by Valerie chasing after both it and her teammate. She turned and shot a wink at them, smile as bright as her weapon.

[“Catch us if you can!” she laughed.](https://youtu.be/VSdJGKpQEUI)

As soon as her feet left the middle platform, Valerie soared into the air, leaning forward enough to hit her ball against an elbow pad and send it towards Jo; she flipped a couple of times before coming to a gentle landing on one of the large walls floating above the ground. Jo stood upside down on a platform above her and swung his spear at the ball, knocking it back to her like a game of baseball. She sent it back with her knee and ran up the wall to get closer to her teammate.

“ _That’s_ what the gravity fields do?!” Patton squeaked.

But Logan was already sprinting towards their opponents, only allowing himself a little wobble when he jumped off of the main floor and was pulled towards a platform three away from the others. Patton swallowed thickly and followed after.

His head began to swim once he was in the air, feeling himself being pulled towards or against all sorts of different directions; immediately, his arms and legs shot out, trying to get the balance that the area had no laws over. His stomach flipped as quickly as he himself did, and he watched as patches of ice started to form on the platforms he passed.

In the stands, Virgil cringed and ran a hand through his hair, ducking half his face beneath the wall in front of their seats as if it could shield him from what was happening to his partner. “Oh, Pat…!”

“That can’t be good,” Thamir said.

Logan somersaulted and used his hands to launch himself off of his platform, righting himself perfectly to land the final gap between himself and Jo. Jo turned to glance at him and smirked; the ball came flying in, and he batted it towards Logan, who threw up an arm for it to bounce against. It sent a shot of pain through his muscles, but it bounced at just the right angle for it to fly away from either of the members of Team SVIJ. Valerie began to maneuver her way back to it while Logan reared back and threw his book at Jo.

The strap wrapped tight around his spear, and Jo attempted to yank back and pull Logan with him, but he dug his heels into the floor and held his ground. He grabbed the strap with both hands and pulled, locking them in a tug of war of weapons.

Beneath them, the white glow around the edges of the platform switched to purple, and their feet lifted off of the floor. As they fell, they both yanked themselves towards each other, punching and kicking when they were close enough, until the side of another platform separated them. They both slammed against the floor of their respective sides.

As Logan clambered to his feet, a hand brushed against his hair, and he looked up in time to watch Patton yelp as he floated by.

“Logan, help!” he cried.

“Get to a platform!”

“I don’t know how!”

Before Logan could reply, he was yanked away and over the edge of the platform, the force causing him to lose his grip on his strap and send him flying in a completely different direction. He crashed into a large cube with a grunt. As he pushed himself up, he watched Jo tuck his book into his jacket and leap off to another platform.

Logan growled and pushed himself to his feet, only for the gravity to begin to shift again. He sprinted up the wall as fast as he could and dove, grabbing onto the corner just as his feet lifted off of the ground. Carefully, he swung his other arm up and pulled himself to the top as he calculated how to get to either Valerie or Jo from where he was.

Just as he began to stand, a yell sounded behind him, and a body slammed into his back, sending them both back to the floor. Valerie’s ball rolled innocently across their faces as he and Patton hurried back to their feet.

“H-Hey, I made it to a platform finally!” Patton laughed.

Logan glared. “Patton…,” he growled.

Before he could say another word, Patton reached down and snatched the ball up, tucking it under his arm. “Well, if they can steal your weapon, we can steal theirs, too! No need to play dirty in a tourna— _Oof!”_

Valerie slammed her feet into Patton’s back, sending him flying off the platform and her ball out of his grip and into the air; she hit it up with her elbow and blocked a punch from Logan before kicking him in the chest and sending him back a few steps. They repeated this a few times, with Valerie playing keepie-uppie with her weapon and Logan throwing attacks in between, until Logan’s legs were knocked out from under him and he dropped to the floor.

He rolled to the side just in time to dodge Jo’s spear coming towards him and slamming his elbow into his chest. As Jo recoiled, Logan smashed the heel of his palm into his chin and kicked him back into Valerie, who dropped her ball as the two stumbled off of the edge.

Logan was about to leap after them when Patton crashed into him again and sent them flying in a different direction than intended. They each grabbed onto each other by instinct as they swirled around, but once Logan’s head stopped spinning, he huffed and shot Patton a glare.

“I’m sorry!” Patton yelped in return. “I didn’t mean to!”

In a split second decision, Logan grabbed his teammate’s wrist and whirled as hard as he could, launching Patton out of the gravity fields and back towards center stage. Patton’s gasp and wide eyes followed Logan as the momentum sent himself onto another platform; as he landed, he checked to make sure safely made it to the floor.

Roman threw his hands in the air and jumped up, practically yanking Riad out of his seat when he refused to let go of his hand. “What is he _doing?!”_

Virtus and Esther glanced at each other, both letting out a soft, deflating sigh.

A blast of wind slowed Patton’s trajectory down, but he tumbled across the floor no less. With a quick glance at the scoreboard to check his Aura, Logan determined Patton would be alright while he took Team SVIJ out on his own.

Jo threw his spear at Valerie’s ball and knocked it over to where the two of them stood; she jumped up and caught it, and as soon as his weapon was back in his hands, they turned their backs to each other and looked around.

“Where’d you go, kid?” Jo muttered.

A blur shot by to their side, and they snapped their gazes over in time to see Logan high in the air above. His fist was reared back, and his necklace about to hit himself in the face; the platform behind him began to suck him towards it, but the gravity shifted just in time.

He let out a cry as the fields launched him towards the two.

They each jumped to the side just as he smashed into the ground; they reared their weapons back, but Logan was quick to block. He swatted Jo’s spear to shoot over his shoulder, and punched Valerie’s ball up and away. Jo threw his weapon across his body and pulled him tight to his chest, but Logan grabbed it and shoved it away, throwing his head back to collide with his jaw. While he stumbled, he ripped it away and used it to swipe Valerie’s feet out from under her.

He spun and crouched, holding the blade towards Jo while he recovered. As soon as he realized what had happened, he glared and pulled Logan’s book out of his jacket, switching it immediately into its pistol form and firing a few rounds. Logan spun the spear to block each bullet before charging towards him, blade out.

As soon as he was close enough, Jo ducked and somersaulted underneath Logan’s legs, purposefully knocking one out with his shoulder. Logan stumbled and rolled; he got back to his feet as fast as he could, only for the rubber ball to slam into his chest. The force knocked the spear out of his hand and sent him flying up and off of the platform.

He managed to right himself before landing on the closest ground he could find, only dropping to his knees when it pulled him in faster than he was expecting. He allowed himself just a moment to catch his breath and assess the situation when bullets began to strike the ground around him. Shooting to his feet, he ran, glancing over to watch as Jo fired Logan’s pistol while Valerie charged up her ball.

Logan was just about to leap again when a bullet knocked the book out of Jo’s hands; shortly after, another hit the ball away.

Right on the edge of center stage, Patton held up his shield, one eye shut for aim as he fired at their opponents.

A spark of pride shot through Logan’s soul just as he reached the top of the platform. He turned to send Patton a smile and thumbs up, when—

His foot slid out from under him.

Logan sucked in a gasp as he slipped off of the edge, hands reaching to grip the edge and catch himself, but they were only met with slippery ice. As he tumbled towards the ground, he bounced off of no less than two separate platforms; he slammed into the corner of the third and final one before he found himself hitting the tiles below.

A buzzer sounded.

_“Ooh, and there goes the powerhouse of Team PRVL!”_ Professor Port’s voice yelled. _“A rare ring-out caused by a student’s own teammate!”_

Logan felt the blood drain from his face.

_“It’s up to Mr. Passio to save this match now! But can he do it without any aid from his team?”_

Patton’s eyes widened as Jo and Valerie started to make their way over to him. He fired a few rounds towards them, but they dodged without missing a beat.

“Pat, go for cover!” Virgil screamed.

Just as they were leaping off of the last platform, Patton turned on his heel and started to sprint towards the trees. He heard them hit the ground, and just a second later, Jo’s spear flew past. He yelped and spun around; immediately, he threw his shield up to block the ball. A whimper ripped out of his throat at both the sound and the shock crawling up his forearms.

Patton forced himself to take a deep breath before allowing himself to look up; the two were sprinting towards him at full speed. He squeezed his eyes shut and threw out his hand towards the ground, trying to focus on the fear running through his veins instead of the electricity.

Just as he opened his eyes, Valerie stepped on the sheet of ice that had formed in front of her. She froze and cried out, face contorting in pain, and stumbled down to the ground before ripping herself away from the area.

A blast of wind knocked Jo back a few steps while Patton gasped, but he recovered quick enough; his spear flew back into his hands, and he swung it towards his side. Patton jumped sideways and blocked it with his shield. While he was turned away, Jo jabbed his fingers into the side of his neck, and Patton _screamed_. His knees buckled, hand flying up to protect the area.

Jo startled at the reaction and went to catch him, but ice shot out around them, and he fell to the ground on top of him. He was quick to roll off, but a statically charged punch hit him in the stomach, causing him to slide halfway across the field. He landed near Valerie, who was just shaking off her own pain and reaching for her ball.

Patton, back on his feet, whirled around to look at them, eyes filled with panicked tears and hands cupping his neck. Crackles of electricity flew off his forearms, and his breath came out in erratic gasps.

Jo and Valerie shot each other concerned glances.

In the stands, both Virgil and Roman shot to their feet and grabbed the wall in front of them in white-knuckled grips.

“No, no, no, not now!”

“Breathe, Patton, breathe! _Shit!_ ”

Carefully getting to her feet, Valerie looked over at Patton. “We gotta end this,” she stated to Jo.

He glanced up at the board and pulled his spear into his hands. “His Aura’s low. One good hit should knock him out,” he replied. “Watch out for his electricity.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

Jo planted his feet in the ground and held out his spear; Valerie grabbed onto the handle between the blades and started to run. He whipped her around himself a few times before she detached the blades and skated at full speed towards Patton. He threw out his left hand to try to catch her, but she grabbed him by the shield and twisted his arm behind his back. Bolts of lightning started to shoot out, but she held tight, using his weapon to her advantage.

On the other end of the stage, Jo backed up as far as he could before sprinting to the ice and hopping on, arm reared back as far as it could go. He slammed his fist into Patton’s stomach and used his torso to catch himself, sliding to a stop next to Valerie.

Patton fell to the floor and covered his ears as the buzzer echoed through the arena.

The screams of the crowd and the cheers of the announcers were lost to their ears as they dropped down next to him.

“Are you okay?” Jo asked.

Patton nodded, despite choking on a sob.

In an instant, Logan was skidding across the ice on his knees to make it to his teammate. He reached up and grabbed both of Patton’s biceps, squeezing them tight when he whimpered.

“Patton? Patton, it’s alright,” he tried.

Virgil and Roman bolted as soon as the fight was over, nearly tripping over Virtus and Esther in their haste to get to the aisle. Esther was quick to follow, and Riad and Thamir weren’t far behind.

Just as Virtus was getting up to join them, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he froze. The all too familiar feeling of eyes on him caused his skin to crawl. His eyes flicked around the crowd until he found the source, standing at the bottom of the balcony two sections above.

Despite having been caught, the woman stood her ground, and they started at each other for a long, arduous moment. Virtus couldn’t read her expression from as far away as she was, especially with half of her face covered, but between her crossed arms and stiff posture, he could only find himself putting his guard up.

After a long minute, she finally turned and headed up the stairs, magenta ponytail flicking behind her.

Virtus watched her go before following after his family.

* * *

“Patton— Patton, please just let me—”

“Ah— _Ah!_ Roman…!”

Letting out a soft huff, Roman sat back on the bed, ice pack dropping to his lap. “It’s going to bruise if we don’t ice it, Pat,” he stated. “Do you have any idea how painful bruised gills are? Because from what I hear, it’s a _lot_.”

“It feels fine right now,” Patton whined.

“Yeah, because Virgil’s holding you.”

Virgil’s already-closed eyes squeezed tighter, and he pulled Patton closer against his chest. “Don’t distract me,” he muttered.

Patton patted his arm with his free hand while his other gripped white-knuckled at his collar. “C-Can’t we just put it on top of this? The cold would get through eventually, right?”

“It _would_ if you’d let me touch your neck,” Roman pointed out.

He immediately curled in on himself, shoulders almost coming up to his ears; they bumped against Virgil’s jaw, and he flinched. Patton let out a hiss when the pain started to seep back in.

“Gah—sorry, sorry!”

Virgil quickly pulled him into his arms again. Roman could only watch and offer Patton a pointed stare. When the ache began to ebb, their leader looked up and sighed.

“Am I allowed to hold it instead?” he asked, voice wavering dangerously close to tears.

If there was anything that could convince Roman to break every rule he knew, it was a sad Patton.

Reluctantly, he handed him the ice pack. “You can’t hold it on for too long at a time,” he said, “Or it’s going to burn your scales and hurt even worse. Fifteen minutes at a time, max.”

Patton wiped at his eyes and carefully peeled his collar away just enough to set it on his swollen gills. A shiver wracked up his spine, prompting both Virgil and Roman to reach to wrap his detached cape tighter around him. He squirmed under the attention.

“Guys, I’m fine, really,” he whispered.

Letting out a soft sigh, Virgil carefully rested his forehead on Patton’s opposite shoulder. “We know, we’re just… worried about you,” he said. His eyes flicked over to the empty other side of the room. “…Logan, too. But he’s too stubborn to let us take care of him.”

“He isn’t not letting us take care of him,” Roman replied. “I’m sure he just wants to be with his parents right now.”

“…He really wanted to win, didn’t he?”

The question hung in the air, answer only coming with the silence it created. Patton frowned and lowered his ice pack, fingers reaching up to fiddle with the clasp of his collar.

“I hope he’s alright.”

* * *

Logan clutched tight at his necklace, tugging at it as if it would help his cause. “Father, _please_.”

“Logan, _no,_ ” Virtus answered. “You don’t need to do any training tonight. You fought great today and deserve a rest!”

“I do not. There is clearly a need for me to keep working, and I would like to take advantage of you being here while you are,” Logan shot back.

Virtus rubbed a hand over his face, leaning back against the wall outside of the training arena. “You won’t learn anything if you’re exhausted.”

“Falsehood. Any training will still extend to my muscle memory.”

“But your brain isn’t going to retain it after a day like today.”

Crossing his arms, Logan raised an eyebrow. “Father, you of all people should know that we won’t have time to rest and recover when we’re in the field,” he stated.

“I _do_ know that, and that’s exactly why I’m pushing you to relax,” he said, waving an arm out. “Look around you. You’ve got yourself surrounded by friends, training partners, time to study and do what you want… Take advantage of it while you’re here, Logan. This isn’t going to last forever.”

Logan scowled. “Why should I take advantage of it when it only serves to underprepare me? I can’t let myself get used to the luxuries here.”

“Because you’re going to miss this.” Virtus shook his head and looked around campus. “These four years are your last chance to be a kid, you know. Enjoy it while you can. It might not seem like it now, but after you graduate, you’re going to wish you had another chance to be young and reckless without any serious consequences.

“I don’t want you to look back with regret that you grew up too fast. I know you already did when… when we lost your mother. You deserve a chance at the same carefree childhood that the rest of us had. I know you have that here with your team, your _friends_. You can’t just push away everything that’s kind to you to harden up for the real world. It’s going to eventually do that for you anyway.”

Logan’s face slowly began to soften as he mulled over what he’d been told. A deep, weighted breath tumbled out of his lungs, and he looked away, closing his eyes.

“Father… I understand what you’re attempting to say,” he muttered, “But I can’t… I can’t—I can’t let myself continue to be a failure because I didn’t push myself enough when I could have.”

Virtus froze. “Failure?” he asked. “When have you ever been a failure?”

Letting out a huff, Logan turned and began to pace.

“I have been _consistently_ failing at nearly everything from the moment I arrived at Beacon Academy!” he admitted. “I fail to keep myself focused on my studies instead of getting distracted by the world around me. I fail to understand how to form relationships of any sort; all of my friends so far have either been through assignments or association! I failed to realize Virgil was starting to struggle with anxiety before it impacted his health, I failed to save Roman before he got himself into danger _twice_ , and I’m _still_ failing to help Patton cope with what we’re increasingly suspecting to be autism, despite the fact that _I’m_ autistic and am the most qualified of our team to teach him!”

Virtus opened his mouth, but Logan whirled around with desperate eyes before he could get a word out.

“And you _saw_ what happened today!” he cried. “I thought I was making the right decisions, but everything I did was wrong! I failed my team, I failed Patton, I failed _you!_ And I…”

Logan sucked in a trembling breath, turning his face away before his father could see the growing wetness of his eyes.

“…I failed Mother.”

Virtus could only think of one time where his world was rocked so suddenly.

“Logan… Logan, no, no, Logie!”

His breath rushed out of him as he rushed to his son, wrapping his arms tight around him and burying his nose in his hair. He cupped the back of his head and gently began to rock them; when Logan hugged him back, he could feel the slight tremor in his arms.

It was a long few minutes before they moved again. Virtus pulled away first, keeping a hand on Logan’s back, and directed them to a nearby bench, where he had Logan sit. Virtus kneeled down in front of him and pulled his mask down to his chin.

“There has not been a single moment since the day you were born where I wasn’t so incredibly proud of the person you’ve become,” he assured. “You are, without a doubt, the greatest thing that ever happened to us. You’re strong, you’re brilliant, you have a good heart, even if you struggle to express it sometimes… It’s like someone took the best parts of your mother and I and put them into one person. How could I ever _not_ be proud of you?”

He reached up and gently took hold of Logan’s necklace, an old ache hiding just behind his eyes.

“I knew your mother better than almost anyone,” he said, slight crack in his voice, “and I _know_ she felt the same way. She never, _never_ would have seen you as a failure. Especially not over something as silly as a tournament.”

“I wanted to win for her,” Logan choked out. “I thought… I thought if I could get as far as she did, then I’d have lived up to her expectations. I’d have lived up to _her_. But I-I couldn’t even do that.”

Virtus took Logan’s hands and held them tight. “The only expectations she had for you was for you to be _happy,_ Logan. She couldn’t have cared less about your skills as a Huntsman. You could have been knocked out by a gust of wind, and she’d have loved you all the same. You were her pride and joy, and nothing in this world could have ever changed that.”

He pulled a hand away to cup Logan’s cheek, doing what he could to cover the scars from view. A soft smile formed on his lips.

“I see so much of her in you,” he whispered. “The way you fight, the way you speak… The way you put so much pressure on yourself to do better, even when you’re already giving more than you have to offer.” He started to rub soft circles into his skin. “And I’m going to tell you the same thing I always told her: You’re doing _fine._ ”

Logan shook his head, refusing to look at him. “But Mother—”

“—Had her flaws, too,” Virtus interrupted. “She didn’t win every fight. She didn’t catch every sign when her friends were struggling. And she _certainly_ wasn’t perfect. But she was so, so loved, not just despite all that, but _because_ of it, and you are, too.”

He pulled his hand away from his face, scooping up both of Logan’s again.

“You are, too,” he repeated.

Sucking in a trembling breath, Logan nodded. His shoulders hesitantly lowered, as if he was forcing himself to lift a weight that had haunted him for years.

“Okay,” he whispered. “Okay.”

“And Logan…”

Virtus sighed, looking at the ground.

“I love you and I am so proud of you,” he said. “I _know_ you know that, and I know you know Esther does, too. And we always want to you understand that you can _always_ come to us when you’re struggling with something.”

He squeezed his hands before turning back to him. “But you need to rely on your team, too,” he stated. “They love you and care about you just as much as we do, and I’m sure they want to help _you_ as much as you want to help them. I know you’re strong, and you’re capable of handling things on your own; you’ve been doing it since the day you scaled the bookcase in the living room when we put your favorite story on the top shelf.”

Logan let out a weak laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you scream louder than when you saw me.”

“And I never saw your mother move as fast as she did when it startled you and you lost your footing,” Virtus chuckled.

Another noise came out of Logan, this one a mix between a laugh and a sob; a tear trailed down his cheek. He reached to wipe it away, but Virtus gently caught his wrist and used the pad of his own thumb to do it instead.

“My point is,” he said, “You don’t have to do everything alone, Logan. Let your friends take care of you. I’m more than willing to bet that they’d be honored to have the chance. Okay?”

Logan nodded, but the deep frown on his face didn’t budge. “I… I just don’t think I know how,” he admitted.

Virtus offered him a soft smile.

“Then let them teach you.”

Logan considered this for a long moment, and then he nodded again, tipping forward to rest his forehead on his father’s shoulder. Virtus wrapped his arms around him and held him close.

For one blissful moment, it almost felt like everything was okay in the world. Every problem, every emotional strain and social struggle fell away when his father was there to shield him.

In the back of his mind, Logan was reminded of a time where he felt the cold sting of a winter breeze on his ears. The crunching of footsteps against a thick blanket of snow landed in time with the jostling of his tiny body against her shoulder. He could practically still smell the vanilla and coffee radiating off of the thick coat he rested on. Her silky brunette hair tickled when it brushed against his face.

He didn’t want to open his eyes. But he knew it wasn’t going to last forever.

When they finally pulled away, a soft set of footsteps approached.

“I think you’ve both earned a little something nice today,” Esther quietly spoke, holding out the drink carrier in her hands. “Hot apple cider with a hint of caramel, fresh out of the press.”

Virtus climbed up to the bench to sit to the left of Logan, and Esther sat herself on his right, passing out the drinks with only soft “thank-you”s to break the silence. Their shoulders rested against each other as they sipped, despite the ample room on their seat, serving as a gentle reminder of their presence.

Logan found his eyes drifting towards the building where his dorm was. He could see the light on inside, but they were far too distant to be able to make out anymore details. A dull pang settled in his heart at the thought of them having fun without him; he pressed his lips together and looked down at his lap.

Perhaps he could skip training for one night.

**Author's Note:**

> The human spirit is indomitable, and I am, too. This one's for you, Monty. Thanks for teaching me how to be strong.


End file.
